Sunday, 22 May 2011

Have just returned from a visit to the Isle of Mull. We have been there before twice and know that you cant expect a week of fine weather. Nothing changes and the first Sunday and Monday were complete washouts literally, but started to improve from the Tuesday morning.
Tuesday was our first encounter with White-Tailed Eagle as it flew across the road ahead of us at the head of Loch Na Keal.

We parked up to see two of them being harassed by gulls before making their way to a favourite perch

It was later in the week that we watched one of these birds returning from down the loch with a fish

We had many separate sightings of this huge creature with another near Lochdon as it crossed ahead of us and another sitting quietly on its nest in a different location.

We also had great views of a Golden Eagle as it came over the top of a hill and then proceeded to traverse back and forward across the face of a cliff in front of us before soaring up, up and away.

On a trip from Dervaig to Torloisk we felt very fortunate to be able to watch a Short-Eared Owl hunting

Some of the birds mentioned above are the symbol of Mull but I am always surprised at the numbers of Common Sandpiper, Wheatear and Snipe which are to be seen all over this island. This Snipe caught our attention when driving to Tobermory one afternoon only for it to be in the same area as we drove back down the same road the next morning

Conditions were not conducive to loch watching but we did see Great Northern Divers in quite a few locations. A very enjoyable week.

P.S.

Spotted this Harrier directly above but was unable to decide Hen or Marsh?

Thursday, 5 May 2011

We visited Thornley to fix the location of a dragonfly pond suggested by SW , and the directions were spot on. At the time of visiting there were half a dozen Large Red Damselfly and a spot of reproduction going on -

Then it was up to Highfield where we were royally entertained for three hours by low flying Red Kite trying to master the art of chicken leg gathering.

About me

The wrong side of pension age, I reawakened my earlier interests in bird and widlife watching, with a holiday on The Isle of Mull during summer 2008. Bought a scope to watch eagles and otters and we were not disappointed. So when we got home I started to cover some local haunts and thought it may be worthwhile to put some time in and around the The City of Newcastle and the River Tyne.I also paint pictures, most having some link to football and a selection can be seen at www.fansoffootball.net